Dutch ovens have been used as cooking vessels for hundreds of years. A Dutch oven is a heavy cooking pot, usually cast iron, with an attached handle and a lipped, tight-fitting lid. Although Dutch oven cooking can be done using a conventional oven or cook top, Dutch oven cooking is often done outdoors using a camp stove, a wood fire, or using charcoal briquettes.
To facilitate placing the Dutch oven into a given heat source, Dutch ovens often include one or more handles fixedly attached to the pot. Traditional Dutch Ovens often included a bale handle, whereas, more modern styled Dutch ovens may have one or more loop handles that can be used to grasp and hold the Dutch oven. One drawback of having a handle that remains attached to the Dutch oven, however, is that the handle is heated by the heat source along with the pot while food is being cooked. Thus, the handle becomes hot, making it difficult to grasp to remove the oven from the heat source.
To remove the Dutch oven from a heat source, a person will often use a glove or pad to insulate their hand from the hot handle. Depending on the temperature of the handle, however, gloves or pad may not provide sufficient insulation making grasping of the handle uncomfortable and/or the person's hand may become burnt. If grasping the handle becomes too painful, the person may even loosen his grip on the handle risking dropping the Dutch oven or spilling its contents.
Alternatively, tools have been used to facilitate removal of Dutch ovens from a heating source, such as a long handled hooked lid remover or long handled pliers. Such tools, however, do not always provide for secure grasping of the Dutch oven or control of the Dutch oven when transporting it from the heat source. Thus a person using a tool to remove or transport a hot Dutch oven may risk injury to herself or himself, or to people nearby, if the Dutch oven is dropped. Furthermore, when camping or cooking outdoors it may be inconvenient to carry additional tools for cooking.
Thus there is a need for a Dutch oven with an improved handle assembly.